Having lost a libel case and waiting to be sentenced Mikael Blomkvist is asked by wealthy industrialist Henrik Vanger to investigate the disapearance (and supposed murder) of his neice Harriet over 40 years ago.

In the mean time, tattooed and pierced punk hacker Lisbeth Salander (who for reasons that escape me is investigating Blomkvist) has been assigned a new guardian to oversee her financial affairs due to problems in her youth. The new guardian only releases money to her after brutally and sexually abusing her.

The two tales run side by side without connection until Lisbeth decodes a message that she ransacked from Mikael’s computer and she joins him in his investigation.This leads to the discovery of a string of horrific unsolved murders across Sweden that Harriet had discovered just before her disapearance.

Once you get used to reading the subtitles, the film opens up into a gripping thriller that hopefully won’t be ruined with the planned Hollywood remake. The world weary journalist and the emotionally scarred young hacker are made believable by the acting tallents of Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace leaving you in no doubt as to the confusion both character’s face as their relationship unfolds.

I’m looking forward to getting hold of the books (I assume they’ve been translated into English) and will be watching to see if they make the rest of the trilogy (in Swedish or not)

Well said! If I could write like this I would be well pleased. The more I read articles of such quality as this (which is rare), the more I think there could be a future for the Net. Keep it up, as it were.